Seven Steps to the Sun (20 page)

The only Italian he could think of at this moment were musical expressions.

'You, American?' asked the older man, coming right up to Mike

'No, I'm English,' said Mike, with great emphasis on the word English. The man nodded and went back to the position by the window. The young man, obviously incensed by this, drew out his gun, which was sharply banged back into its holster by the older man.

'Aqua, I would like a drink of aqua,' Mike said, pointing to the inside of his mouth. 'Water, no good,'

'How bad is the water?'

'Bad, very bad.'

Mike thought quickly for a moment. If they were out of water they'd be dead before long, and so would he. The purification pills in his pocket started to burn a hole. They might just take the pills and kill him. He had to risk that and rely on the sense of the older soldier.

'I have something that might help.' The older soldier turned and looked. 'Can you make a hot fire? Then put some water on to boil.'

'No good, we have tried, make you very sick,' the man on the floor said, holding his stomach.

'May I get something from my pocket?' said Mike, indicating what he wanted to do.

The man nodded. Mike put his hand in his pocket, undid the box and took out one of the pills. Everyone in the room studied it and instructions were given to one of the men, who left the room.

'We will try,' said the older man, coming over and giving the pill back to Mike.

'You have no guns?'

'No, I'm afraid I haven't.'

'Then why you here?'

'I've been entertaining up in the north,' Mike said without a moment's hesitation. 'What you do?'

'Play the piano, music,'

'Musician, have you papers?'

'Yes, here,' he said, taking out all the cards he had in his pocket. The man took hold of them and shook his head as he handed them back. Mike looked into the man's face, but there was no expression which might give him a lead as to what they had in mind for him.

The soldier returned with water and cooking utensils. He piled wood into a heap, lit it, and carefully lowered onto it the helmet full of murky looking water. Mike watched until it boiled then dropped the pill in. It crossed his mind that the water might have been poisoned with special chemicals, resistant to purification. One of the soldiers spoke gently to his wounded companion, who Mike learnt was the superior officer. The stench from the water was dreadful, and his eyes began to water. The wounded man looked up at Mike and started to say something.

'Sorry, I don't understand,' said Mike moving towards the man. A faint smile crossed the soldier's mouth and he reached up to pull Mike nearer to him. The smell from the wound was terrible, but any discourtesy might be very dangerous to his safety.

'What was the pill you used in the water?' asked the soldier in excellent English.

'One of these!' said Mike taking the box from his pocket. The man took hold of them feebly and studied the label.

'Where did you get them from?'

'I was in Australia some years ago, on a walking trip.'

'Then put another pill into the water.'

'I also have food,' said Mike, taking the food rations from his pocket. He couldn't risk being searched. 'You are a strange man to find in such a wilderness.'

'Are you going to kill me?'

'No, but others might,' said the man, weakly, as he signalled for the older soldier to come over. Mike was pushed roughly out of the way. He went back to the water and dropped a second pill into the brew.

'You are welcome,' said the older soldier coming over.

'Thank you, can you tell me what is going on?'

'I thought you were north, entertaining?' asked the older soldier briskly.

'Right, but I never learnt what was actually happening,' he said covering his mistake. The soldiers in the room turned their eyes on him.

'Come here!' said the officer. 'Don't shake your security,' he said nodding towards the soldiers in the room.

'I would like to know,' he persisted.

'Your question is almost impossible for anyone to answer. All we know is that total anarchy has spread throughout the world,' said the man, breathing with difficulty.

'Anarchy?'

'I understand so, and now brother fights brother, son fights father and so on in a huge bloody bath.'

Mike turned away as the man coughed. He took the boxes of rations over to the older soldier and handed them to him who, after a whispered conversation with his superior, shared out the pills. Mike thought over what the officer had said. The situation sounded as though the civilization which he knew was at an end. Why hadn't it been avoided? Surely the Governments of the world had seen it building up? Why hadn't they acted.

An exclamation from the soldier holding the helmet announced that something had happened to the water. A cup was produced from a pile of kit bags and given to Mike. He dipped the cup into the boiling water and after a moment took a sip. It tasted sweet so he drained the cup. Handing it back he waited for them to have a taste, but they just watched him instead. The water was taken off the fire and allowed to cool while the older soldier kept looking at his watch until he was satisfied that Mike wasn't going to die.

'You feel good?'

'Never felt better,' replied Mike, very confidently. The soldier barked orders and two soldiers left the room at the double.

'More wood, more water,' said the soldier to Mike, who took the box of pills and handed them over. For the first time the man smiled.

'Good we make many good water, for many days.' He then took a capsule from his pocket and handed it to Mike.

'You get caught, then caput,' said the soldier, with an explosive gesture.

'Thank you,' he said, wondering if it really had an explosive effect. 'Will I have to use it?'

'Who knows what is to happen.'

The door burst open and the two soldiers came running in. Their voices were even as though they'd been dealing with awkward situations all their lives. Having reported to the older soldier, they all went over to their commanding officer. 'You can stay, or come.'

'What's wrong?' asked Mike, kneeling to talk to the officer.

'These men have to leave, there is a large force of rebels coming into town,' said the Captain, raising himself with difficulty.

'Well, if it's all right I'll tag along with your men,' said Mike.

'Yes, you will have a better chance with them. They are going to the mountains. I think it will be the only place to stay alive. Go with them,' said the officer with a wheeze. The soldiers were now putting on their packs. The captain gave an order. They stopped and looked at him. He repeated his order and the older soldier replied with some reluctance. They lifted the officer to his feet and left the room.

Mike followed them up a short flight of stairs to a flat roof where the captain was manoeuvred into a sitting position by the parapet. A couple of the soldiers went over to a low door on the other side of the roof and brought back a heavy machine gun. Mike crawled over to the Captain. The officer had a commanding view of the main street. A soldier rolled out a length of cable and connected it to a detonator box.

'Bye,' said Mike, taking the limp hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.

'Come, we must hurry,' said a soldier, handing him an automatic rifle and boxes of ammunition.

'What will happen when we've gone?'

'The street, boom,' said the soldier, with tears in his eyes. Outside he could hear the sound of engines grinding away in the distance. At the end of the alleyway they stopped. One of the soldiers moved from the protection of the narrow passage out into open country. The man zig-zagged through the dusty field to the far side, stopped and signalled for the others to follow. On reaching him, they didn't stop but all kept going. Mike realized in horror there was hardly any cover in front of them for miles. They ran on and on, stopping briefly in ditches, and behind scrubby bushes as they watched for the enemy. At length they threw themselves into a ditch. The hot sun burnt down onto Mike's sweating body. He turned himself round and looked back. The older soldier gave some instructions and one of the men climbed out of the ditch and vanished.

'He goes to see the road is clear, if not we wait for night,' said the soldier sucking in air hard. They all lay watching the town but nothing happened. The scouting soldier came slithering back into the ditch. Catching his breath he gave his report.

'Come,' said one of the soldiers as they started to crawl out of the ditch and on towards the road. Mike felt they'd crawled all the way to the Alps by the time he saw it. The man in front of him stopped, then continued forward. Mike moved up alongside the soldiers to see what they were looking at and one of them silently pointed to a clump of trees a little way down the road. There was a glint of metal in the sunlight. The soldier smiled at him and made a driving motion with his hands.

'What's happening?' asked Mike, as he heard a short burst of automatic fire.

'Too late,' said one of the soldiers, crossing himself.

Mike looked at the town. So the Captain had died before he could press the detonator. There were a few sharp orders and they moved off towards the clump of trees. A hundred yards from it they dropped down. Up in front of them was a small vehicle with a couple of men standing alongside. They lay watching the movements of the men. Mike noticed they were dressed in civilian clothes, but carrying ammunition belts. There was no cover at all along the road, which made surprise by the soldiers nearly impossible. Mike manoeuvred himself alongside the older soldier.

'I'm going up to attract their attention.'

'You go up there?'

'Yes, and talk to them while you come up behind.'

'No good.'

'Better one man get killed, than five.'

'O.K.' said the man shaking his head, suggesting Mike was crazy.

Mike checked there was a bullet in the breach before crawling to the edge of the road. Standing up he started to walk towards the car. With every step he took he expected a shout or a shot, but none came. On reaching the place where the car was parked he was surprised to find no one there. The sound of running footsteps made him turn to see his friendly soldiers running jauntily along. One of them was wiping his knife clean, while another of them had a long piece of wire. They came up to him and laughingly slapped him on the back. The piece of wire was attached to the door of the car and they all descended into the ditch. He stood there for a moment not quite seeing what they were going to do. A shouted command in his ear made him throw himself alongside the smiling soldiers. The wire was pulled and the car door opened. Mike watched them as they went over to the car with great care, making sure it wasn't a booby trap.

It was a bit cramped for five of them. The machine was started up and turned in onto the road while the man next to the driver took a map and with a compass worked out where they should go. At length he pointed across a field, and the car floated off. He sat in his cramped position, with his eyes closed. His own plan was to stick with these fellows until they reached the mountains, then to try and work his way over into the region of Corvara close to Cortina d'Ampezzo. Pete and he had once spent a summer holiday climbing there. In the evenings they used to discuss the blissful idea of living simply in the mountains. Pete had made up his mind that if there should ever be a nuclear war he would go to Corvara, climb high into the mountains and live in one of the climbing huts. They had both found the topic very funny, and, as young people do, just laughed at the possibility of war and concentrated on the women. He felt however mad the idea might have seemed at the time, there was now a possibility that Peter would remember the conversation and attempt to get there.

Mike must have fallen asleep, for the next thing he remembered was the sound of the engine dying. He shook his head and opened his eyes. The countryside hadn't changed much, but to the north he could make out a mountain range. 'The Alps?'

One of the soldiers in the front leant back with a map and showed him where they were. The man's finger was resting on a spot north of Verona.

'Thanks.'

'No more gas,' said the older soldier. Mike eased his rifle out of its wedged position and climbed wearily out. The sun was now far over to the west, and when evening came it would be reasonably cool for walking.

The older soldier handed round some of the emergency rations, and a sip of water before they picked up their gear and set off towards the mountains. Mike worked out that they must be heading for Lake Garda. He thought hard about the problem of leaving them. Somehow he didn't think they would want to let him go. He would do the same if he were in their shoes for, if he was picked up on his own, he might give away their route or plan. Suddenly the soldiers in front of him dropped to the ground. He followed suit. When nothing happened he crawled up to the front. There he was shown an old broken up road, and a small cottage.

'Why are you waiting?' asked Mike.

'I wait till I am sure, no one,' said the man quietly.

Mike began to realize just how exhausted he was. These men were probably feeling the same, and since trouble always seems to come when you're tired they weren't taking any chances. He made his way back to the end of the queue, lying there trying to keep alert and awake.

The mountains to the north began to take on an evening glow. He wondered whether there was much snow on the higher slopes. He remembered wistfully when he'd driven over all the high passes in the mountains behind Nice. It had been early summer, just before the tourist season started. The towns along the coast were still applying the finishing touches to their new summer services. The beaches were quiet and the locals treated him as a resident. He remembered that the mountain roads were empty of traffic, except for the occasional bus. He would lope along, stopping to pick cherries from a roadside tree, and farther up, above the tree line, he would find all the spring mountain crocuses and cowslips out in June.